A New Minnesota Catch-And-Release State Record Lake Sturgeon

The Rainy River briefly gave up one of her massive secrets recently, but for fans of fishing, that secret went back in the water. More importantly, that secret has now been determined to be a new state catch-and-release record lake sturgeon. How big was it? It potentially weighed more than most high school wrestlers.

A New State Record

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, a lake sturgeon caught in the Rainy River back in April was just certified to be a new state record.

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The fish, which was caught by Travis Keating on the Rainy River on April 18th, was more than 80" long, 38" girth, and was estimated to weigh more than 165 pounds!

Here's how it happened, according to a news release from the DNR:

On April 18, a bitter cold front had moved in overnight, bringing 40-plus mph wind gusts and wind chills hovering around 5 below zero. Fishing was a grind. Anchored in Four Mile Bay for nearly eight hours, the crew battled relentless wind and cold, managing seven smaller sturgeon.

By evening, instead of calling it a day, Keating decided to move toward the mouth of the river, convinced the changing conditions might trigger a late bite. After an hour of pounding through waves, it finally happened. The fishing rod doubled over, nearly touching the water. Keating described what followed as “over an hour of pure chaos.”

The Dinosaurs Of Minnesota Lakes

Lake sturgeon live a very long time; in fact, they can live to be more than 150 years old! Sturgeon live so long as they grow very slowly, so for this fish to be 80" long, it might be 100+ years old!

Fishing for lake sturgeon isn't overly tough, but it takes plenty of patience. Those fishing for sturgeon should be prepared with heavy-duty gear to handle the long, intense fights that take place when landing one of these fish.

Prime lake sturgeon spring fishing happens in April through the first week in May on the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods.

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